


A Grownup Conversation

by KirkyPet



Series: How Furiosa Lost her Arm and Narrowly Avoided Becoming a Wife [3]
Category: Mad Max Series (Movies), Mad Max: Fury Road
Genre: Headcanon, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Multi, Pre-Mad Max: Fury Road, facts of life - Freeform, how to choose a partner
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-11
Updated: 2016-11-11
Packaged: 2018-08-30 08:49:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8526715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KirkyPet/pseuds/KirkyPet
Summary: Mary and Furiosa have 'the talk'.





	

They stood and watched the dune buggies crest the hill in the morning sun. As the cloud of dust settled, they were already drifting back to the settlement. There were only scraps of conversation going on among the women and children. They were all pretty tired. It had been a late night for the kids, and quite a few of the women had opted to take advantage of the last night of male company, and had been without sleep almost entirely. 

Furiosa was glad to have some time with her thoughts. Her mother was off to one side, walking with Katie. She had said a particular goodbye to a dark-haired man by his dune buggy, so Furiosa suspected she'd be pretty sleepy all the morning. She was keen to talk to her about some things that had been on her mind lately. 

***** 

It wasn't a question of the mechanics of the thing. Even anklebiters in the Green Place knew where babies came from. They kept goats, after all. It didn't seem that complicated. Male, female, schlanger in, wait for a bit, baby goat out, right? Humans were just the same, only it takes a bit longer. 

No, it didn't need to be that kind of conversation. It was the more complicated stuff. The teachers had been reading to them about evolution. Natural selection, they called it. Animals had to consider who to pair up with. To be fair, most of the examples in the book were about animals that none of them had ever seen, or would likely ever see (which gave a kind of otherworldly feel to the lesson), but there was a picture of a bird with a huge crazy-looking tail with eyes on. Maybe not real eyes, that'd be weird, even for Before. Apparently, females liked the big tail so much they bred with males with the biggest one. Scared off predators or something. The monkeys with the red bums were more of a mystery. But goats with the biggest horns for fighting – that made sense. 

So how did it work for people? How did they choose their partners? Was there something particular to look for? She'd understand it if women picked men with the most guns, or the fastest buggy. But until babies were born clutching little baby guns, that would be irrelevant. She giggled at the idea of babies driving out of the womb in tiny dune buggies. Mothers, she was tired. 

So...what about the size of men themselves? That might make them better at fighting, but that wasn't always the case. Maybe how smart they were? It can't be a size thing for her mum – her dad had been tall, but that guy from this morning had been quite short for a man. It was complicated, evidently. And there was another matter – how did women choose women? Throughout the year, her mum shared her bed with Katie, more often than not. When it's not about breeding, evolution can hardly have much to do with it, right? She hoped her mum would have some of the answers. 

***** 

Mary, thinking that kids are never too young to learn once they're old enough to ask, was more than happy to enlighten her daughter. In theory. In reality, okay yes, it was a little embarrassing discussing her sexual preferences with her pre-adolescent daughter. But the main difficulty was that there was no simple answer.  

"I suppose the first thing is – everyone is different. What one person likes is often very unique to them. And a person isn't always consistent, either. What you like one year, you might not like the next. And, of course, it's not just about how someone looks. Someone might be pretty, but you won't think so because you don't like them as a person. And the same the other way round. But then again, some people go with pretty people _because_ they don't like them as people...it's like being mad at them makes you want to..." She glanced at Furiosa's perplexed expression and paused to collect her woolgathering thoughts.  

"I think the main thing is that you trust them. It's like, when you were little and you had a favourite toy. You wanted to have a friend to play with it along with you, because it was more fun than playing with it by yourself. But you didn't want just _anyone_ to touch it...just someone you liked and trusted not to break it...Oh Mothers, that's a terrible analogy" she broke off, blushing hotly. 

Furiosa, cringing as her mother waded deeper into a metaphorical quagmire, took pity on her. "I get it, really...I think I get it." And she did kind of get it. She and Val had been experimenting and had a good idea of what the favourite toy was that her mum was talking about. 

Anna and Madge had been listening in with interest. They were two regular gossips who always had something to contribute to every conversation, regardless of how private it was intended to be. Mary, when she saw them, had a sinking feeling that the whole settlement would have heard an account of her awkward explanation by nightfall. 

"The _main_ _thing_ , girl, the main thing is that you have plently of fun while you're young. Once the crowsfeet and bingo wings kick in, you won't get a look in." Madge had numerous stories to tell of her life before the Green Place, many of which had been bitter tirades against a particular man from her past. 

Furiosa has a mental image of what crowsfeet are, but what kind of exotic deformity bingo wings are sets her mind reeling. 

"If you don't have long legs, big tits and skin like a newborn babby, you're screwed. Or, more accurately, not." 

Mary splutters her objections to this information, but is interrupted by Anna, who plays devil's advocate. 

"To be fair, Madge, it can work the other way round too. I mean, remember my flatmate Anita? She ditched her fella for her boss, who was old and ugly but minted, just because Egg had packed in his job to become a sports writer. Poor fella was gutted." Madge nodded grudgingly and they walked off, bickering in a best-of-friends way. 

Relieved at their departure, Mary attempts to get the conversation back on track. "Ignore _all_ of that" she advised, shaking her head. 

"One thing that is very serious though is...you have to treat people as people. The minute you try to use someone, and don't think about their feelings or what they want – that's the point were it all goes bad. Don't ever treat anyone like that, or let anyone do that to you – okay?" 

Furiosa nodded at her, wide-eyed. 

"It's like the man who hurt your dad. He used people for what he could get from them, and then threw them away like they were nothing. I'm sorry to get all serious on you, love, but it's so important." And she reached out and clutched her daughter's hand. 

"I understand." And if Furiosa didn't understand fully then, she would soon enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Anna's story is from 90s drama series 'This Life' which I used to watch back in the day...before the internet was invented.


End file.
